6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
You do not give enough information. Peppers like a warm soil, like 85 degrees. Source of heat should not be the light source. How high are the lights from the seedlings? A 400 watt HID light puts out a lot of heat as well as light. I keep mine at least two feet above the seedlings. I also provide bottom heat. Sixteen hours of light sounds OK. I start my peppers in recycled sixpacks. If I were to use four inch pots I would start 9 seeds per pot and repot when they were about 3 inch tall. Sixpacks makes potting up easier with less check in the growth. Al
Why are you using the HPS instead of MH? HPS is mainly for flower/fruit production, MH for vegetative, all around growth. I keep my HID lights 4 feet away from my plants. That's why I like to use HO flourescent tubes for starting seeds then I switch over to HID lights. I can have the fluorescent lights almost touching my seedlings. 16 hrs a day on seems fine. Are the curled leaves dry? They might be too close. As the previous person said HID lights generate quite a bit of heat.
Perhaps a good answer would be that the majority of the watering should come from the bottom, with just enough of a misting on the surface to ensure that a crust doesn't form on the surface as well as to make sure that small seedlings with undeveloped roots are not sitting in a dry top half of the soil, while moisture remains in the lower half of the container. Everyone would agree, I'm sure, that at no point do you want your seedlings sitting in soggy, soupy dirt, but neither do you want them in a bone-dry lockdown. It's a fine line; luckily, most seedlings are forgiving. Those that aren't...well, live and learn! Also helps so much to really research the specific needs of the individual variety you're growing. Different plants like different conditions, some dry, some damp, some are very susceptible to damping off, some you can bury up to the leaves when you transplant, some will wither and die if you do that. Research! :)
Agree it is just cool growing temps that cause it but it does no harm to them. The plants green up quickly when planted outside and the weather warms.
If you want to warm just the growing area a bit without heating the whole house just enclose the plant area a bit with a plastic drop cloth and let the lights provide a bit of heat to them. That means leaving the lights on a night and off some during the day. Get a timer. ;)
Dave
I'm no expert, but thought I'd share my experience. I think some plants can handle an early transplant, and some can't. Things that tend to be relatively fast-growing don't seem to mind a transplant before their first leaves. But I transplanted a few tuberous begonia (super slow growing) seedlings when they were very, VERY tiny because they had some how sprung up in a clump on the very edge of the container they were in, and were getting dislodged when the container moved. Those guys are still struggling and I don't know if they'll pull through; it appears to be transplant shock, their little leaves are brown, though the new leaves they've sprouted are green. In contrast, the other seedlings from that container grew their first true leaves and were at least twice the size of the little guys, and they've been transplanted without any trouble. It almost seems like, if they still have just that one baby root with no offshoots, they might not stand transplanting as well as seedlings with more developed roots. Just my little bit of experience, ymmv. :) I do struggle, like you, with seedlings germinating and sprouting at different rates, but I guess in your situation, unless you could possibly steal a light or two from outside, I'd sacrifice a little legginess to let them grow some roots before I pricked them out.
Leave them for now, they are too young to pinch. The habit of ivy geranium is more vine like, it's not unusual to find some of the stems longer. If you want bushier plants later, pinch back the growing tips when your seedlings have gained a bit more size and have more than one leaf per each stem. Pinch, or cut, just above a leaf - clearly you don't want to do this when a stem has only one leaf. :)
There is a latent growth bud located at the node (node = the point on the stem where each leaf is attached). Cutting of pinching off the growth just above that node will cause that stem to branch out. More branching will mean more flowers.
Some longer stems on ivy geranium aren't necessarily a bad thing though...leaving some of the longer growth to spill over the side of a large container or drop down from a hanging basket may be desireable too, depends on how you plan to use them.
I plant my seeds in recycled plastic mushroom boxes that I have punched holes in the bottom of. They are just a nice size to hold a package of seeds. I use recycled grocery store clear bakery containers as tray and humidity cover, or regular trays with a humidity cover, until they sprout.
When They get their second set of true leaves(the first leaves are seed leaves)I transplant them into pots or packs--plastic containers that have compartments. I use pro mix or a soilless mix for cuttings and seeds.
These containers I use over. Before I put these away for the summer and winter, I wash everything with soap and a little bleach--to kill anything that may be there. Beytter to be safe than sorry
I plant my morning glories in styrofoam cups with holes poked in the bottom. They are not invasive here and I spend a lot of time in my yard so if I do get something that is invasive i can trim it back or whatever to keep it
from taking over. I'm going to try some up next to my block wall this year as I'd love to cover it up.
Happy Gardening,
Pam
I see you are using those Jiffy peat pot trays.
How do you like them?
It looks like you have a lot of water in the bottom (but the stick keeps it from laying in it?).
Have you found it hard to regulate water? Are they sturdy?
Keriann~
Actually the stick was just laid in the tray by accident. I like the trays, but they are not real sturdy. When you double them they get much stronger. I even use the clear cover under them after I remove it and that makes them triple thick. I think I may have just watered that tray when I took the photo. As soon as they all sprout I move them from the lights to my mini-greenhouse.
If you are just looking for a 'tray' to hold your pots from things around the house..... After they germinate what about a cookie sheet with a 'cooling' cookie rack the paper pots sit on with about an inch between the paper pots for airflow? The cookie rack would have to sit just at water level but then you could just bottom water and the paper pots would wick it up as needed? Just a thought My only other suggestion would be a 1020 tray without holes (large black garden flat) that you could set all your pots into. I know Menards sells them and their ridged bottom helps to keep the pots from drowning.
No matter what you use... your friends should be very thankful. Best of luck. Happy gardening!
Keriann~
Ok, folks, I see we have a good group of experienced seed-sowers...
I have a bunch of small to medium plastic containers that I saved over the course of last summer. You know the kinds that you find in the blueberry/strawberry department? Well, they could not be recycled, and I wanted to reuse them. I have plenty of nursery containers in which I have purchased plants over the course of a period of 5 years or so. My thought is to start the seeds in these smaller transparent containers, which already have drainage holes in them, at first covering them with the throwaway plastic bags that a available from the grocery store, rather than spending money on Saran Wrap. After the seedlings have germinated, take off the plastic bags and let them grow until they are read for the "prick off" stage, and then put them into the appropriate size container for growing them on. Also I have read that chamomile tea is excellent for preventing damp-off and other soil-born fungus. I have made up a weak tea mixture into a spray bottle from the kitchen that was originally intended for spraying on olive oil. I have already ran that throught the dishwasher, and also disinfected it with a Clorox solution of which I am also now using to clean the containers, and then, of course, changing the waters frequently, as the most of the labels were able to be scrubbed off as well. I am almost finished washing all of my nursery containers.
Anyone see any problems with my plan? Thanks!
Hmm, I dunno, I guess it was just one of those things I had heard and never questioned. I've never had a shortage of space and the types of lettuce I like grows like crazy, so I guess I've never really looked into it. Good to know for future reference, though. Thanks!
I used a foot warmer mat that I had bought many years ago to keep my feet warm when I had to work in an unheated building, it was made by Tripp Lite. My tomato seeds sprouted in four days using it. It is rated 75 watts so gets quite warm, but if you have a thick layer of dirt and don't have a dome over your seeds it didn't overheat the top of the soil where the seeds were.
Hey, Tomtuxman....I agree with you. If you have the time and patience, you might get something interesting, even if it did not match the hybrid plant. Have you ever planted dried beans? They are cheap, and I read somewhere that if you harvest them early, you can use them as green beans. That would be a huge savings compared to seed packets.
Average germination time for astilbe is 21-60 days, any seedlings appearing within that time frame would be considered the norm.
Your Bayer product/imidacloprid was overkill and I hope you didn't mean you sprayed this in an enclosed environment, like indoors. Imidacloprid isn't appropriate treatment for gnats. It's use outdoors is even in question given the possible consequences to bees and pollinators.
A very effective safe for you/your seedlings approach would have been to use BTi - Bacillus thuringiensis israelenis - for fungus gnat and mosquito larvae. But it was too soon to assume fungus gnat larvae were feeding on seedling roots.
While damp-off is most common at the soil line it can actually affect any part of the stem. Damp-off can even affect large transplants after they are in the garden.
In this case most likely the stems were infected at the soil line but the symptoms weren't apparent until the plant had grown past the soil line. A bit simplistic I know but picture the fungus attached to the stem and riding it up the stem until growing conditions were right for it to activate.
Lower the air temperature, decrease the humidity, and increase the consistent air circulation for the rest of your seedlings.
If you want an experiment to do, snip off the affected seedlings a bit below the damaged part of the stem and leave the rest of the stem to see what happens. Some have reported they have been able to salvage affected seedlings this way and new growth develops from the roots once the growing conditions are changed. See what happens with yours.
Dave
No. Winter Sowing is a genuine propagation method for starting seeds outside. In vented containers. During winter.
Here is a link that might be useful: USDA Thesaurus 'Winter Sowing Method'
This pertains to indoor seed starting:
If you are only starting seed to save money, I don't think it will be worth it for you.
Becaue you are only filling a window box with pretty common flowers I bet it would run you $10-$30 to fill it with plants from a garden center.
Lights, soil and seed will cost you about that.
I am sure you want nice large plants come time to plant because it is such a focal point, and seedlings will be smaller than nursery bought plants (but will quickly catch up).
So I would say you start saving money on starting your own seed when: 1. you start at least 30-40+ plants 2. you plant things that are hard to find 3. you plant things that are more expensive (such as tuberous begonias, wave petunias...3" pots ect.)
Plant seeds for the experience and the enjoyment...not just saving money, it is much more valuable in the long run.